Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

In fairness to the Tánaiste, she would not know the reason why I asked this question. I am asking it because I met with a man from Loughrea called James Regan who asked me to raise the issue of the licensing laws because of what happened to his son, Brian Regan, who was knocked down and killed by a car in December 2015 at 5.30 a.m. It was obviously a tragedy for him and his family. His father was concerned about the licensing laws. His son had been drinking from 7 p.m. that evening. Obviously, personal responsibility is an issue and he had responsibility for consuming alcohol himself but his father believes he was drinking late into the night in a licensed premises that was serving him alcohol when it was past closing time and the premises was not entitled to sell alcohol. He is not looking for inquiries. He is just anxious that the licensing laws we have are enforced. Most publicans do enforce them but it is important that when people come into public houses, they are under the supervision of the public house. We need to enforce the laws.

See this speech in context